Should I drop Intermittent Fasting?

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BogdanB84
BogdanB84 Posts: 17 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hi all,

I finally reached my weight goal: 69,5 kg. I lost almost 20 kg since July 2016. I was on a calories reduction (under 2k cal) throughout that time. Intermittent Fasting (IF) helped me a lot with that. But here comes the question: Now that I am no longer on calories deficit and I want to maintain my weight, should I drop IF?
Any suggestions are welcome :-)

Thanks,
Bogdan
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Replies

  • slacker80
    slacker80 Posts: 235 Member
    edited March 2017
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    Yea! Try a regular and healthy meal program as far as meal times are concerned. Use your I.F. For only when you feel you need it. That way you don't get burnt out on an o'l plateauing routine down the road.

    Congrats on your loss BTW it's a significant number. Pretty freaking awesome.
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
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    If IF helps you to maintain weight by keeping your portions in control and you cope well with it then continue to do it. If it is something you can not do indefinitely then don't. The only right answer here is do what works for you.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    edited March 2017
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    I don't know which protocol you are using, but try different eating patterns and see what works for you.

    As for me, I maintain very nicely eating all of my calories in a window of time everyday. It's a habit now. I just extended my window or eat larger/more calorie dense meals compared to when I was losing.

    I know others who add in an extra snack or two during the day to help them meet their calorie goals.

    Congrats on your weight loss!
  • BogdanB84
    BogdanB84 Posts: 17 Member
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    Thanks all!! Some really good insights here. I'm currently eating in 12-8 windows and so far it worked really well for me.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited March 2017
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    sillywsop wrote: »
    If you want to live longer and reduce your risk of cancer, in a word, no. Don't quit.

    If you'd like a lengthier explanation, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2696814/

    1. Time restricted feeding has not demonstrated the ability to "kick off" the process mentioned above. Most of the studies demonstrate something to this effect in cases of severe caloric restriction or complete food abstinence for longer than 16 hours.
    2. There is little evidence that it works without caloric restriction or isolated from overall lifestyle.
    3. Most of the studies were preliminary, speculative and on mice.
    4. From your own link:
    The activation of autophagy, however, is not without potential risks. Autophagy may help keep alive those cells that should die, such as chemotherapy-treated tumor cells, or, if present in excess, kill cells that should live. If the lysosomal clearance of autophagosomes fails, the activation of autophagy results in a cellular traffic jam that may lead to increased pathology—a scenario that may in fact occur with aging, Parkinson’s disease, and other neuro-and myodegenerative disorders. Yet, in most diseases, we still do not fully understand how the potential risks of autophagy are weighed against its numerous adaptive physiological functions. The preponderance of currently available evidence from Drosophila, C. elegans, and mouse models does suggest that the primary function of autophagy may be to promote health and longevity. Nonetheless, further research is needed to define the precise determinants of whether autophagy is beneficial or pathological in more specific disease contexts.

  • Just_Eric
    Just_Eric Posts: 233 Member
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    Well, I don't have chemo-treated tumors. Gonna keep on keeping on.
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
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    I've done various IF protocols going on 5 years now, 4 of those while being in maintenance. IF helps me stick to my calorie goals, which is just as important during maintenance, as it is during the weight loss phase :)
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
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    drop it or don't - it's mainly a personal preference.

    It fits may lifestyle and eating preferences (I'm not much of a grazer, I prefer big meals) and so use IF when maintaining. I've even run it whilst eating at a calorific surplus.
  • Kimblesnbits13
    Kimblesnbits13 Posts: 369 Member
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    I did 16:8 to lose the weight and partly because I just don't feel hungry in the morning and coffee holds me over until noon. But there are some days where my stomach would rumble around 10 or 11 and I just can't make it until noon so I've started adding a small snack to hold me over for an hour or 2. I'm thinking of quitting intermittent fasting because I have more room for a small breakfast. But since it fits my lifestyle with work and everything I'm not sure I will quit 16:8. It's just habit now plus a couple hundred more cals to play with later in the day. In conclusion, intermittent fasting should really just be a way of eating to fit your schedule.
  • BogdanB84
    BogdanB84 Posts: 17 Member
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    Interesting... it all makes sense to be honest. I think all of you are right. It all depends on the perspective. Personally the only reason why I am even thinking about dropping IF is that I reached my weight goal and I think I can keep within my calories limit without IF. That said, weekdays are easy enough as I'm busy working. Weekends are the challenge so I might drop IF for those 2 days a week. Just not sure how my body reacts to that. Time will tell I guess :-)
  • Kimblesnbits13
    Kimblesnbits13 Posts: 369 Member
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    BogdanB84 wrote: »
    Interesting... it all makes sense to be honest. I think all of you are right. It all depends on the perspective. Personally the only reason why I am even thinking about dropping IF is that I reached my weight goal and I think I can keep within my calories limit without IF. That said, weekdays are easy enough as I'm busy working. Weekends are the challenge so I might drop IF for those 2 days a week. Just not sure how my body reacts to that. Time will tell I guess :-)

    Weird i do the opposite and try to stick to IF on the weekends since Im most likely to eat out at night or go for a big brunch. I like saving my calories for eating out/wine/beer.
  • ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken
    ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken Posts: 1,530 Member
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    That's a personal choice. I like intermittent fasting as a way of life, it is not a temporary tool that I use. You may not feel that it is something that you want to keep doing for whatever reason, and i so then by all means stop doing it. Or just do it when you eel like you want or need to. I you ind that you are slipping back into old patterns of overeating you can always go back to it.
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    edited March 2017
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    The difference between losing and maintaining is literally one serving of peanut butter. I wouldn't make any drastic changes until you're maybe 6 months in. I "relaxed" after comfortably maintaining for 7 months and BAM, up 5 pounds.
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
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    nowine4me wrote: »
    The difference between losing and maintaining is literally one serving of peanut butter. I wouldn't make any drastic changes until you're maybe 6 months in. I "relaxed" after comfortably maintaining for 7 months and BAM, up 5 pounds.

    ^^Truth. Maintaining is a big learning curve.

  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
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    slacker80 wrote: »
    Yea! Try a regular and healthy meal program as far as meal times are concerned. Use your I.F. For only when you feel you need it. That way you don't get burnt out on an o'l plateauing routine down the road.

    Congrats on your loss BTW it's a significant number. Pretty freaking awesome.

    IF is not an unhealthy meal program... And it's regular in its own way.

    OP, stick with what you like - if you were only doing it because of your restricted calories, stop doing it. If you were doing it because it works for you, you enjoy eating that way and feel good eating that way, stick with it!

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